INHIBITORS OF CELLULAR TRANSPORTERS FOR THE TREATMENT OF TNBC Abstract Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) is defined by the receptor status of the cells. TNBC does not express estrogen, progesterone, or Her-2 receptors. It is estimated that 1 million women worldwide are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. TNBC is the most deadly sub-type of breast cancer, accounting for ~15% of the breast cancer diagnoses and ~25% of breast cancer-related deaths. Median survival for 30% of the patients with TNBC is 1 year. TNBC arises more frequently in women younger than 60 years of age, particularly of African-American descent, and those who possess the BRAC1 mutation. Seventy-five percent (75%) of women, who have breast cancer with the BRAC1 mutation, will develop TNBC. TNBC has poor clinical outcomes because it is highly metastatic, resistant to chemotherapy, and lacks effective treatment options. Nirogyone?s approach is to develop small molecule MCT1/MCT4 dual inhibitors to shunt glycolysis, block metabolic symbiosis, prevent metastasis, and effectively treat TNBC. A novel lead molecule (NGT- 008) has already been synthesized, and evaluated in in vitro and in vivo pilot experiments. Preliminary data demonstrates that NGT-008 exhibits good potency against a TNBC cell lines, MDA-MB-231 and MDA-MB-468, good physicochemical properties, reasonable mouse pharmacokinetic profile, and modest in vivo efficacy. NGT-008 showed no cytotoxicity even at 10M against several normal cell lines including muscle cells which are known to express MCTs. In this application, we propose to further characterize NGT-008 and its optimized analogs by conducting the following AIMS: (1) Develop analogs of NGT-008 with improved pharmacokinetic profile and potency by iterative synthesis and homology models of MCT1 and MCT4 to aid in the discovery of new improved lead compounds to increase in vivo efficacy (2) Extend in vitro cytotoxicity studies to other TNBC cell lines (3) Evaluate the in-vivo efficacy of the optimized analog in a mouse xenograft model of MDA-MB-231 while establishing a 3D co-culture system. The proposed work will determine the feasibility of NGT-008 or its optimized analog as a novel therapeutic agent to treat TNBC. Next steps will be to evaluate an optimized analog in additional in-vivo studies (orthotopic models, PDX models, dose response, dosing regimen, toxicology assessment, etc.) as determined by results from AIMS 1, 2, and 3 in order to nominate a pre-clinical candidate. This will be a part of Phase II application.